Flyers playoff hopes against Pens rest on Bryzgalov

The play of Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov will determine… (Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE,…)

April 10, 2012|Gary Blockus

As just about everyone with a passing interest in hockey has heard by now, Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov fears no man, just bears in the forest.

It's a good thing he threw in the "in the forest" part of that comment after practice on Monday.

The Flyers kick off the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs at 7:30 Wednesday night as the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference visits the No. 4 seeded Pittsburgh Penguins at the CONSOL Energy Center for the first two games in the best-of-seven series. The series heads back to Philadelphia on Sunday.

The high-scoring Penguins are a bear of an opponent for any team, and this intrastate, intradivision rivalry has all the heat and passion of the Hatfields versus the McCoys, Romney versus Santorum or the tea party movement versus Obama.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren and team founder Ed Snider brought in Bryzgalov from Phoenix in an effort to solve a revolving, collapsing door in goal that has plagued the Flyers since Ron Hextall's first incarnation with the team.

How "Bryz" goes will determine the Flyers' fortunes. Experts around the league and oddsmakers in Las Vegas are predicting the Penguins as a favorite to make the Stanley Cup Finals, but whoever advances out of this first-round series may not have enough healthy players or energy left to make a run past the second round.

The Flyers-Penguins series will be a war, and Bryzgalov has to defend the fort no matter how crafty NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin and NHL sweetheart Sidney Crosby ply their goal-scoring trade. These two teams hate each other. The Flyers won the season series 4-2, but Crosby played in just three of those games because he was recovering from a concussion.

The physical, chippy play will continue from the vitriol that transpired in the regular season, and exactly what the referees allow and don't allow will have a marked impact on who wins the series.

It's a thinly veiled secret that the NHL is protecting the concussion-prone Crosby by quick whistles for contact with him, but Crosby is no saint behind the play and off the puck. If the referees allow him to elbow, spear and trip opponents without calling the appropriate penalty, he will become a target.

Crosby is perhaps the second-best diver in the history of the league, and he learned from the best: team owner Mario Lemieux. How much the referees protect Crosby or call phantom penalties while letting the Penguins go unpenalized is already a story line.

The NHL issued a $10,000 fine to Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette after Laviolette blew up at the Penguins bench when part-time player Joe Vitale took out Flyers star Danny Briere with an open-ice hit after earlier injuring defenseman Nicklas Grossmann with a knee check.

The NHL fined New York Rangers coach John Tortorella $20,000 after Penguins' defenseman Brooks Orpik's injury delivering a penalized knee check on the Rangers Derek Stepan, prompting Tortorella to call the Pens one of the most arrogant organizations in the league, adding: "I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars over there."

Malkin is a little easier to get off his game than Crosby because Malkin acts physically accountable in the moment. Flyers rookie Sean Couturier will most likely be matched up with Malkin to harass him for the series with generous help from defenseman Braydon Coburn.

The idea, though, is to stick with both Crosby and Malkin like glue, not so much to physically beat on them, but to deny them the space they need to be effective. Take away space on any player and decisions become panicked, but there's a fine line between taking away space and crowding so much that you leave open an escape route.

The Flyers offense answers back with Claude Giroux, the No. 3 scorer in the league, and is bolstered by a career year from rugged Scott Hartnell, who led the team with 37 goals and was tied for the team lead with six game-winning goals.

The good news for the Flyers is that both Briere — a consistent playoff performer — and Grossmann will be back on ice for the series opener. Briere's constant offensive presence will set a good example for rookies Brayden Schenn and Couturier. Grossmann's hulking 6-foot-3 presence should help give Bryzgalov some confidence in his defense.

But, just as in past years, the Flyers will live or die with their goaltending. Which Bryz will show up: the imploding, self-mocking character from the first half of the season or the NHL Player of the Month for March, who recorded four shutouts and went 10-2-1 with a 1.43 goals against average?

The Bryz who said, "Good news. I'm not playing. We have a chance to win," before the Winter Classic against the New York Rangers, or the Bryz who said "I'm not afraid of anything. I'm only afraid of bear — bear in the forest."

Bryzgalov won't see any bears in Pittsburgh, just Penguins on ice. But that's a bear of a team that may be just a tad too much for the Flyers to handle.